Rogers' Rangers

Rogers' Rangers was an independent ranger company of the British Army which existed from 1755 to 1763. The group was originally a provincial company from Hew Hampshire under the command of Robert Rogers, and it consisted of light infantry that carried out special operations and reconnaissance behind enemy lines during the French and Indian War. In 1775, the rangers were called up by Great Britain as a loyalist formation, with some leaders joining the Patriots; however, Rogers remained a loyalist, and he turned it into a mercenary company that recruited Scots, Native Americans, freed slaves, and Tories into its ranks. The rangers were responsible for the capture and execution of American spy Nathan Hale and the massacre of the Connecticut dragoons of Benjamin Tallmadge, and they carried out a few raiding actions in New Jersey. Rogers would retire from the army in 1777, and the rangers would be folded into the Queen's Rangers of John Graves Simcoe.